Instead I was advised to have the property deeded back to me to avoid a foreclosure ordeal. 

Avoid them if you want any type of decent response time or customer service response. 

To avoid these costs, a common strategy is to set up a land trust to hold the property title.

I've had tax companies lie to me about this and I ended up wasting money on unnecessary entities.

You can hear real-world examples of how others have built their investment portfolio and (hopefully) learn to avoid their mistakes.4.

.✅ This avoids wasting time screening unqualified tenants.3) Before Lease Signing (Final Step)✅ Run the background check before approving the tenant, so you can verify:Credit history & income stability Eviction & rental historyCriminal background (if applicable in your state)Final ThoughtThe best time is after the showing but before lease approval—this ensures you’re only screening serious applicants while minimizing wasted time and costs.

You'll also need to avoid environmentally restricted spots, including wetlands, protected habitats, and prime farmland.

One thing you might think of doing is having and promoting your own website to avoid the exhorbitant fees charged by the third party sites such as Expedia, Booking.com and Air BnB.  

Finally make sure that you have lived in the place you are selling two of the last 5 years to avoid capital gains taxes.

A reserve is unnecessary, but I still keep around $15,000 - $20,000 in my account.The point is, that you should sit down and assess your finances to determine what the worst-case scenario may look like, how much you would need to cover it without impacting your life, and whether you will need to build a reserve.